Joan Murray
| birth_place = New York City, New York, United States | occupation = Poet, writer, editor, playwright | nationality = American }} Joan Murray (born August 6, 1945) is an American poet, playwright and editor. She is best known for her narrative poems and her book-length verse novel, Queen of the Mist. Life Youth and education Murray was born in the South Bronx, New York City, and attended Hunter College, initially as a studio art major, and later as an English major, winning Hunter College's Bernard Cohen fiction prize. She married at 19 and had 2 children (1 of whom died in infancy). She earned an M.A. from New York University and, in 1970, began teaching at Lehman College of the City University of New York. Career Murray's poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in journals including The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine,http://www.harpers.org/subjects/JoanMurray, the Hudson Review, The Paris Review''http://www.parisreview.com/results.php?prmKeyword=joan%20murray, ''Poetry, The Nation''http://www.thenation.com/archive/search.mhtml?query1=Joan%20Murray, the ''New York Times, the Village Voice, American Poetry Review, the Ontario Review, and in anthologies including The Best American Poetry and The Pushcart Prize. In addition to her career as a writer and editor, Murray has held several positions in education and the arts. She was writer in residence at the New York State Writers Institute at the State University of New York at Albany, and poet in residence at Olana, the museum-home of painter Frederic Church. She has also taught writing for many statewide programs, including New York State Poets in the Schools and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She also worked as an arts consultant and writer for the New York State Council on the Arts, for whom she designed a grant initiative for individual artists, and coordinated a multi-year project for independent publishers. Murray lives and works in Old Chatham, New York.http://www.pw.org/content/joan_murray_2 Writing Typically Murray’s poetry focuses on actual people and situations and is characterized by its narrative structure, detailed imagery, long, rhythmic lines], and emotional effects. The Poetry Foundation has said of it, “Working in free verse, Murray is a master of the single, unforgettable detail. Her accessible, image-driven narratives harness the urgency of their moral or social context while staying true to the pacing and music of daily life.”Joan Murray b. 1945, Poetry Foundation. Web, Sep. 24, 2016. Recognition Murray’s debut collection, The Same Water, won the Wesleyan New Poets Series Competition and was a finalist for the Academy of American Poets’ Walt Whitman Award. Her next book, Queen of the Mist, a novel-in-verse about the 1st person to go over Niagara in a barrel, was chosen by Joyce Carol Oates as runner up for a Poetry Society of America award; she was also commissioned by Broadway’s Jujamcyn Theaters to adapt it for the stage. Her 3rd book, Looking for the Parade, was chosen by Robert Bly as winner of the National Poetry Series Open Competition. Her 4th book, Dancing on the Edge, was published in connection with her bestselling 9/11 anthology, Poems to Live By in Uncertain Times. Awards * National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship (2011–12) * Pushcart Prize, chosen by Ray Gonzalez and Philip Schultz (2008) * New York State Council on the Arts Museum Program Grant for Olana residency (2006) * National Poetry Series Open Competition Winner, chosen by Robert Bly (1999) * New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fund Grant for play adaptation (1999) * National Endowment for the Arts Creation and Presentation Grant for Niagara residency (1998) * New York State Council on the Arts Writer in Residence Grant (1994) * Knight Foundation Fellowship at Yaddo for photography and verse collaboration (1994) * Poetry Society of America Gordon Barber Award Winner, chosen by Billy Collins (1993) * Poetry Society of America di Castagnola Award Runner-up, chosen by Joyce Carol Oates (1993) * Poetry Society of America di Castagnola Award Finalist, chosen by Marge Piercy (1992) * Winner, Wesleyan New PoetsJoan Murray: poet, writer, playwright, and editor, by William Matthews, Pamela Alexander, Chase Twichell (1990) * National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship (1989–1990) * Academy of American Poets Walt Whitman Award Finalist, chosen by Amy Clampitt (1988) * New York Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowship (1988–1989) * New York State Council on the Arts Writer in Residence Grant (1984–85) * Pushcart Prize, chosen by Joyce Carol Oates (1984) * New York State Council on the Arts Writer in Residence Grant (1983–84) * Residencies at Yaddo, an artist's colony in upstate New Yorkhttp://www.yaddo.org/Yaddo/Anthology-Sept11.shtml and the MacDowell Colony http://www.macdowellcolony.org/ Publications Poetry * Egg Tooth. Sunbury Press, 1975. *''The Same Water: Poems''. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0-8195-1183-6 *''Queen of the Mist: The forgotten hero of Niagara'' (verse novel). Boston: Beacon Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0-8070-6852-6 *''Looking for the Parade''. New York: Norton, 1999. ISBN 978-0-393-32064-0 *''Dancing on the Edge''. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-8070-6871-7 Edited *''Poems to Live By: In uncertain times''. Boston: Beacon Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8070-6869-4 *''Poems to Live By: In troubling times''. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8070-6894-6 *''The Pushcart Book of Poetry: The best poems from three decades of the Pushcart Prize''. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-888889-52-9 Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Joan Murray, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 25, 2014. Audio / video *''Conversation with Joan Murray''. Chautauqua, NY: Chautauqua Institution, 2002. *''Queen of the Mist: The quest of the forgotten heroine of Niagara'' (CD). Chautauqua, NY: Chautauqua Institution / Recorded Books, 2006. *''Joan Murray Interview and Reading'' (CD). Buffalo, NY: State University of New York at Buffalo Poetry Collection / Just Buffalo Literary Center / WBFO, 2009. Except where noted, discographical information courtesy WorldCat. See also * List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *"Her Head" from Poetry 180 * "Twentieth-Century Creativity" *"from The Visitor: Poems for the Eastman House: "The Gardener's Daughter," "Getting Ready for the End" *Joan Murray b. 1945 at the Poetry Foundation * Selected poems (7 poems) ;Audio / video *Joan Murray at YouTube ;About *Joan Murray Official website *"An Interview With Poet Joan Murray" at Poets & Writers, 2010 Category:1945 births Category:American poets Category:Living people Category:People from New York City Category:Hunter College alumni Category:New York University alumni Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets